Skins Under Scrutiny

Dave Fairbank

Right Now, Offense Is A Guessing Game

Twenty days and counting until the Redskins' season opener and here's what we know about the offense: Quarterback Jason Campbell is a playmaking upgrade from Mark Brunell, provided he remains upright.

That pretty much sums it up and thanks for tuning in. Conclusions beyond the obvious are a little sketchy, what with a patchwork offensive line, no Clinton Portis sightings and limited pitch-and-catch between Campbell and his favorite targets.

If you're a little apprehensive heading into the season with a rusty Chris Samuels slated to protect Campbell's blind side, with left guard Todd Wade nursing a shoulder injury, with a rushing game that has delivered little, well, you aren't the only one.

"There are a number of things that we are off on and need to get going," head coach Joe Gibbs said Sunday evening after cutting up video of the exhibition loss to Pittsburgh. "Our running game is not near where we want it and that's the key to what we want to do."

The problem for Gibbs and the team is that they won't know exactly what they have in the running game, or in pass protection for that matter, until Sept. 9 and beyond.

Samuels, the Pro Bowl left tackle, has been sidelined with a knee injury since early in training camp and isn't ? expected to see live action until the opener. Wade should be ready to go before that, though it's unclear how many snaps he'll see if the team wants to provide maximum recovery time.

The upshot is that the Redskins' starting offensive line Saturday versus the Steelers, and perhaps for the final two preseason games, consisted of a rookie free agent at left tackle, Stephon Heyer, and sixth-year journeyman Mike Pucillo at left guard.

It's good that Heyer and Pucillo are getting reps with the first team and running against first-team defenses. It's not so good that they're the No. 1 options at the moment.

It's a mite troubling, as well, that right tackle Jon Jansen needed help, in the form of a tight end, in the preseason opener against Tennessee and to a lesser extent against the Steelers.

That said, there's no reason to think that the Redskins won't be at least marginally effective running the ball. The line will improve with time. Portis is a proven commodity, preseason allergy aside, and Ladell Betts is a quality backup.

Last year, even with Portis injured and Campbell feeling his way as a first-time starter the second half of the season, the Skins were fourth in the NFL in rushing (138.5 ypg) and second in the NFC behind Atlanta.

The Skins' running and passing balance is a chicken-and-egg question. Must they run effectively so that Campbell may throw, or must Campbell complete passes so that defenses cannot load up against Portis and the running game?

The question was almost moot halfway through the first quarter Saturday night, when Campbell took a shot to the left knee from a lunging Brett Keisel -- who, by the way, had beaten Heyer.

It's a testament to Campbell's size (6-foot-5, 230 pounds), strength and the fact that his left foot wasn't planted in the turf when he was hit that meant he suffered only a bruise.

"I'm thankful to God I didn't have anything more serious than it is," Campbell said, "because nine times out of 10 when you see that it's usually something torn or something that's not good. I'm just thankful (a tear) didn't happen and I did get kind of lucky."

Gibbs sounded a little conflicted Sunday while discussing whether to play Campbell the remainder of preseason.

At one point during his give-and-take with reporters, he said he believed that you have to play young quarterbacks in order to get them as much experience as possible. He admitted that you always run a risk playing starters in preseason.

Later, however, Gibbs said that because Campbell played seven games a year ago, there isn't the urgency to rush him back into action during preseason simply to get him game snaps.

"Our medical team has made good decisions and they've seen a bunch of this," Gibbs said. "Jason has a real good feel for it, too. If he's sore, he won't be out there, but we'll see how it plays out during the week."

A week will barely scratch the surface of what to expect from the Redskins' offense.

Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at dfairbank@dailypress.com

ONLINE EXTRA: How can the Washington Redskins get it together? Post a comment at www.dailypress.com/nfltalk.